The harvesting, or picking, of tree-borne olives or other fruits, nuts or the like has long been accomplished by hand, or by vibratory machines which shake the tree or by rods manipulated by hand or powered by machines.
Mechanical olive harvesting is the subject of experimentation in California, wherein an enormous machine on wheels includes one or more cushioned clamps which grip the tree trunk or branch and vibrate it to cause the fruit to fall into an equally enormous catching frame which must be maneuvered into position under the tree. The trees must be pruned to facilitate mechanical shaking so that the branches do not block the operator's view in attaching the shaker clamps.
Portable, hand manipulated shakers, or thinners, have also been proposed as in the ground level supported engines, elongated, reach rod, tree branch shaker head devices illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,269 to Londo of Mar. 23, 1965 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,175,329 to Beckman of Mar. 30, 1965.
Portable, hand manipulated pickers have also been proposed, usually having one or more comb-like picking fingers in a picking head powered from ground level to reciprocate, or rotate, the fingers to dislodge the fruit from the tree as in the pistol grip type devices of U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,697 to Shaff of Aug. 4, 1970 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,242 to Townsend of Oct. 31, 1972.
Rotating comb like tines, or fingers, on a picking head carried at the upper end of a pole, or reach rod, and powered by a ground level engine are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,536 to Soler-Espiauba of Oct. 20, 1970.